Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series

Friday, April 16 at 4:00 p.m., Harned Hall

The speaker will be Monica Peabody of Parents Organizing For Welfare and Economic Rights. Her lecture is entitled Advocating for a Strong Social Safety Net in 21st Century America.

Monica Peabody is the Executive Director of POWER: Parents Organizing For Welfare and Economic Rights, a local organization of low-income parents and allies advocating for a strong social safety net while working toward a world where children and care giving are truly valued, and the devastation of poverty has been eradicated. She is also the mother of an amazing twenty-year old. Raising a child during the passage of welfare reform made Monica an avid activist. She became active with the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition (WROC) in the early 90's. When she moved from Seattle to Olympia in 1995, she was shocked to discover there was no welfare rights organization here. After multiple conversations with parents who were being told they had to quit college and find low-wage work, she organized her first welfare rights meeting in Olympia in 1997. Ever since then, low-income parents have been an integral part of our community's fight for social justice.